NEWS

Amazon Inc. is now the world's third largest retailer. An amazing feat for a company that until recently did not have any physical stores and sold exclusively online. When Amazon announced last year that it was looking for a city to locate a second headquarters outside of Seattle, cities across North America began to work feverishly on bids to be chosen as the site for an investment of $5 billion and the potential to bring in more than 50,000 new jobs. Over 200 cities from across America, Canada and Mexico submitted bids to Amazon. This week the short list of 20 cities was released and to the delight of many it included Toronto, the only city chosen outside of the USA.

So why is Toronto still in the running? One of the biggest challenges facing Amazon, and many other technology companies, is the lack of available talented workers. An immigration system that is flexible and willing to accommodate Amazon's need for thousands of highly skilled workers can make all the difference. In June 2017 Canada launched the Global Talent Stream that allows for two week expedited visa processing for many technology related occupations. In addition, Canada's temporary visa programs offers great flexibility in attracting highly skilled workers to Canada. With more options to apply to remain as permanent residents these skilled workers may be more easily retained once they have worked in Canada for a few years and set down roots. In the current international discussion about immigration, Canada's approach stands out and its efficiency and flexibility are no doubt a big part of the reason that Canada has made Amazon's shortlist.

In addition, Toronto has an existing deep talent pool with more than 4000 active start-ups at the end of 2017. In addition to the universities in Toronto, it is in close proximity to other campuses such as Waterloo, that can provide the needed talent to power these start-ups and companies that have set up large offices in Canada including Google, Microsoft and Facebook. As the largest city in Canada, Toronto is also its commercial and financial centre, home to the largest banks, investment companies and corporations. And of course it is arguably the most diverse city in the world, with more than half of its current population born outside of Canada, and can offer its residents a high quality of life.

There are additional challenges that Amazon will face it it wants to choose Toronto as it must navigate local political pressures including the USA's current “Buy American, Hire American” campaign. In addition, as NAFTA renegotiation talks are still underway, there is the risk that the United States may pull out of NAFTA leading to greater complications in cross-border transactions. Overall, Amazon will have to balance all of these factors against its fundamental need to make sure it can staff its second headquarters with 50,000 employees that will likely not come from the local city but from around the world.

​And there are some in Toronto that are asking the city to proceed more cautiously and are questioning whether we really want an online retailing giant in our city. Given the concerns about the lack of existing high tech talent in Toronto, executives from Toronto's start-up community are concerned that Amazon could soak up all the local high-tech talent, leaving many other companies struggling to find the experts they need for their businesses to operate and grow and may well prevent Toronto from nourishing it's own Amazon-like success. They argue that the new expedited visa programs should be used to help existing start-ups and companies that are facing the current talent shortage and we should be weary of creating a bigger labour shortage. We will have to wait and see what Amazon decides in the months to come.

The Canadian immigration and citizenship system is complicated and constantly changing. Each case is unique and the way in which laws and regulations apply to your case may be different than the case of other family members or friends. The difficulties in immigration applications is compounded by the fact that most applicants are not native English speakers. Unfortunately, there are many instances of fraud and scams that are perpetuated against those interested in coming to Canada either on a temporary basis as visitors, students or workers, or those interested in becoming immigrants.

Therefore, choosing a representative that can advise you and represent you competently is one of the most important decisions you can make in helping you navigate the immigration system and preventing mistakes that can lead to delays or the refusal of your application. Having a professional that is legally permitted to represent will mean that the representative has to meet regulatory requirements with regards to competence and ethics and if there are any problems you may have recourse to follow up your case.

Who Can Legally RepresentAny person that receives compensation from you in exchange for providing you with immigration advice or assisting you with your application must be declared in your immigration application as a “Paid Representative”. There are a limited group of professionals that are legally permitted to advise you in immigration matters and to prepare and submit applications on your behalf to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). These professionals are:

Lawyers who are members of the law societies in the provinces of Canada (and licenced notaries in the province of Quebec)

Immigration consultants that are members of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (IRCC)

In some very limited instances, licenced Paralegals that are members of the Ontario law society

Canadian lawyers are permitted to represent you in all immigration matters including all levels of court and all types of immigration and citizenship applications. Immigration Consultants may also represent you in most immigration matters excluding appeals before the federal court of Canada. And finally paralegals in Ontario have a limited ability to assist applicants in hearing before the Immigration Refugee Board. You can check whether a professional is licenced and is permitted to practice in one of these categories by checking the relevant website (in Ontario: www.lsuc.on.ca/find-a-lawyer-or-paralegal or www.iccrc-crcic.ca).

No other person or entity is permitted to represent immigrants or provide immigration related advice. There are unfortunately individuals and businesses that claim to provide immigration services without any of the safeguards that are in place for lawyers and immigration consultants. For example, unauthorized representatives (also referred to as “ghost consultants”) submit applications with your own name and contact information, without any mention of their role in preparing your application. I have seen countless cases where ghost representatives have provided false information and even fraudulent documents resulting in refusals and findings of misrepresentation for their innocent clients. You should be aware that you are always responsible for all information and documents submitted to IRCC on your behalf and choosing a representative that is competent and ethical can make all the difference.

5 Tips In Choosing Your Immigration Representative

Ask for recommendations – before choosing a representative try to get recommendations from people that you trust. You can also try to search the name of the potential representatives online to see if there are any online reviews or information from past clients.

Ask about the representatives credentials and experience – when meeting with potential representatives make sure to ask about their credentials and specific experience in dealing with similar cases.

Discuss the services they will provide and negotiate the legal fee – make sure to understand what the process will include and the services that will be provided (as well as those that are excluded). You should also discuss the legal and government fees involved in your application up front to avoid misunderstandings during the process.

Have a written contract with your representative – make sure to get the details of the services and fees in a written contract from your representative. Keep the signed contract in a safe place and if it includes milestones for the services to be provided make sure that you refer to it regularly to ensure that your application is proceeding as scheduled.

Protect yourself from fraud by choosing a representative that will represent you ethically – be weary if a representative invites you to take shortcuts as promises that sound too good too be true often are impossible to fulfil. Further you should never agree to provide false documents or information to IRCC as it is against the law and can result in you being denied entry to Canada.

2017 was a big year of changes for immigration laws in Canada with new programs and developments in existing immigration programs. For the most part Canada's stance in welcoming immigrants was in contrast to negative views towards immigration in the US and much of Europe. As 2018 begins, what can we expect to see in Canada?

CitizenshipChanges to the Citizenship Act came into effect in October 2017 making it easier and faster to obtain Canadian citizenship. This created a rush in new applications and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) reported that they received more than 30,000 new applications in the first two weeks after the changes, more than double what they would have received in each month prior to the change. This will likely mean longer processing times but we hope that the efficient processing of the past two years will continue and IRCC can keep processing times from spiralling out of control.

Express EntryThe Express Entry (“EE”) system of selecting immigrants is still the largest source of economic immigrants to Canada. In 2017 over than 85,000 applicants were invited to apply through the EE system, more than the number of total number of invitations issued in 2015 and 2016. IRCC has made improvements to the EE system in late 2016 that allowed more applicants to qualify. We have also seen the minimum score required to be invited under EE come down to as low as 413 points (May 2017) and if Canada is to meet it's target of attracting one million new immigrants over the next three years there will likely be further downward pressure on the minimum score and we will see more applicants qualify under EE.

Family SponsorshipThe process of registering for the parent and grandparent sponsorship program was changed in 2017 to a lottery system and the same system is in place this year, albeit with some minor changes. IRCC is again set to select 10,000 applicants under this program to fill its annual quota.

The spousal sponsorship program also made news in 2017 as IRCC worked to meet the target of processing these applications within 12 months. By the end of 2017 the average processing time across all visa offices was 12 months, a significant improvement on previous years where families sometimes had to wait years to be reunited in Canada.

New Definition of Dependent ChildIRCC's definition of eligible “dependent children” changed in October 2017 to include children up to 22 years of age. For new applications can now include these dependent children, and in some cases applicants have until 31 January 2018 to add qualifying dependent children to existing permanent residence visa applications.

Provincial Nominee Programs Provincial Nominee Programs (“PNPs”) allow provinces to identify and select potential immigrants for settlement in their local economy and labour market. While PNPs have existed for many years, the provinces have spent 2017 expanding their programs, providing qualified applicants with more options for settling in towns and cities across Canada. IRCC's target for 2018 is to process 55,000 PNP applications.

Global Talent Stream and Two Week Processing In June 2017, IRCC introduced the Global Talent Stream (“GTS”) allowing for fast-tracked processing of Labour Market Impact Assessments leading to work permits in as little as two weeks. The program is focused on areas where there are significant labour shortages, particularly in technology related fields, and has so far been a great success in helping Canadian companies attract and bring in much needed employees to develop and grow their businesses in Canada. Amazon and Facebook opened new offices in Canada in 2017 after Google, Apple and Microsoft all expanded their operations in Canada in 2016. These companies, along with hundreds of start ups and medium sized companies are looking to hire workers with the help of the GTS.

For now the GTS is a pilot program but if it continues to build on the success of its first six months we hope that IRCC will keep and expand the program to give Canadian businesses a competitive advantage.

​While 2017 was a year of big changes, there always room for the government to surprise us again in 2018. As Canada works towards its target to admit one million immigrants over the next three years we are likely to see more changes and immigration programs introduced this year.

Note: This information is not intended as legal advice or opinion. You should always seek specialized legal advice with regards to your situation as the facts of each case are unique and the application of law varies in every case.